Congratulations, You’ve Read The Morning Heresy and Now You’re an Insufferable Smartypants

February 20, 2014

The Morning Heresy is your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.

Herbert and Catherine Schaible, whose adherence to faith-healing resulted in the death of their 2-year-old-son in 2009, are sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for the faith-healing death of their second child, only 8 months old, from pneumonia. On Twitter, CFI chief Ron Lindsay says the judge in the case was wrong to place blame solely on the parents, but should have also pointed to their church. Ron also tweets:

Minister in faith-healing death case insists teachings are correct. Child died b/c of "spiritual lack" in parents. That minister is a killer

When one of your Facebook friends posts a link to a story about spirulina boosting brain function or how to cure pneumonia with vitamin C, I beg you to respond. A simple “bogus” will help halt their descent into insanity induced by Natural News.

Speaking of bad science, you can now write off Thought Catalog as a source of anything credible, as it publishes an article entitled, unironically, "Congratulations, You’ve Vaccinated Your Child And Now They’re Retarded."

* Network with speakers and attendees. Build new relationships. Challenge your thinking. Learn about secularism, feminism, international women's rights, intersectionality, and more. (Okay, so that was more than one reason, but you get the idea...)

Under the bill, a doctor may refuse to treat gay people and be protected from losing his license—even if the American Medical Association requires nondiscriminatory treatment. ... A schoolteacher or college professor can openly order gays out of her classroom—even if her school has a policy of equality. Banks and law firms will be forbidden from requiring LGBT inclusiveness. ... Under the proposed law, not a single group in the state of Idaho will be permitted to require the equal treatment of gays.

God once was seen as commanding the entire universe and supervising all of its inhabitants — inflicting tragedies, bestowing triumphs, enforcing morality. But now, outside of some lingering loud pockets of orthodoxy, we have witnessed the arrival of a less mighty, increasingly inconsequential version of God. God is becoming ... ordinary.

Dave Kempa talks about holding his tongue about his atheism, while noting that the religious do quite the opposite in some odd situations:

At my grandma's funeral a few years later, the priest spent more of his sermon warning my sisters and me that we were in danger of spending an eternity in hell than he did honoring my busia’s memory. . . . I was talking to my mom the other day about how, even at services for the irreligious, things always devolve into proselytization. She explained that funerals aren't really for the departed, but for those left behind. In that case, I said, what if I opened my speech at her memorial with, “There is no God. My mother is no more. Gone.”

American Democracy has evolved beyond its initial flawed implementation and is no longer a vehicle to force the will of even a majority or of those in power upon the constitutionally protected rights of any minority. ...[P]rotecting the particular religious tenets of a hospital in its dealings with either its employees or its patients is not a proper role for our government.

E-Mail Updates

Search All Free Thinking Blogs

Paul Fidalgo has been communications director of the Center for Inquiry since 2012. He holds a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University, and has worked previously for FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy and the Secular Coalition for America. Paul is also an actor and musician whose work includes five years performing with the American Shakespeare Center. He lives in Maine with his wife and kids. His blog is Near-Earth Object, and he tweets at @paulfidalgo.